ST. LOUIS—In the aftermath of Matt Holliday’s takeout slide on Marco Scutaro in Game 2 of the NLCS, the St. Louis Cardinals left fielder and San Francisco Giants second baseman have been the focus of much of the pregame hoopla for this afternoon’s Game 3.

Will Scutaro be able to play with a strained left hip he suffered when Holliday took him out with a late slide Monday night?

Will the Giants stick a well-placed fastball in Holliday’s backside as retaliation for the play?

The starters

With starting pitchers on both teams struggling to work deep into games during the postseason, Game 3 would be a good time for Kyle Lohse and Matt Cain to show why they have been No. 1 starters this season.

Both righthanders have been solid in their first two playoff starts, though Cain failed to make it through six innings in either. Cain also has had difficulties against the Cardinals. In two starts this season, he gave up nine earned runs in 11 2/3 innings.

Lohse has been as steady in his two playoff starts as he was during what was his best regular season (16-3, 2.86 ERA). He will be pitching with an extra day’s rest after tossing seven innings of one-run ball against the Washington Nationals last Thursday. Lohse did not face the Giants during the regular season.

The catchers

For all of their MVP credentials, neither Buster Posey nor Yadier Molina has done much lately offensively.

Posey hit the big grand slam in the decisive game of the NLDS against the Cincinnati Reds but has only one hit in eight at-bats in the NLCS and is 5-for-27 this postseason.

Molina drew a key walk in the Cardinals’ ninth-inning, Game 5 rally against the Nationals but is just 4-for-29 without an extra-base hit this postseason.

The leadoff hitters

If he hits another leadoff homer this month, the Giants’ Angel Pagan will become the first player with three leadoff homers in a single postseason. The Cardinals’ Jon Jay would settle for a leadoff hit of any kind. He has led off an inning 12 times this postseason and reached base only twice. He hasn’t had any more success in other situations, either. Jay is 5-for-33 with a .194 on-base percentage.

Though the bottom of his order has carried the team offensively, don’t expect Cardinals manager Mike Matheny to fiddle with his order because of the struggles of Jay, Molina and any other slumping Cardinal.

“We've had some recent games here that would tell you you'd be crazy to do anything different,” Matheny said during an off-day media session Tuesday. “I have a lot of faith in our guys and the way they're going about their at bats, and I don't see any change in the near future.”